"He could live in 'Europe,' as he had been in the habit of living, on the product of these flourishing New York leases, and all the better since, that of the second structure, the mere number in its long row, having within a twelvemonth fallen in, renovation at a high advance had proved beautifully possible."

Still in the thick of that horror anthology from Library of America I mentioned last week—just wanted to include this random sentence from Henry James to say, "I'm really really glad I'm not writing at the turn of the century." I can barely wrap my brain around that sentence, just one glaring tangled mess in a 40-page forest of indecipherability. Yes, Hemingway may have been too far in the other direction, but…man. God bless the progression of the ages.

Labels: quote of the week